Appliance alliance supports independent dealers

In a retail era dominated by big-box stores, area independent appliance dealers credit the Boston Group - and its seemingly endless supply - as the reason why they're able to stay in business.

Aaron Wasserman

With 20 yellow forklifts buzzing around the Boston Group's Franklin warehouse one recent morning, moving dozens of major appliances, the scene is something like an industrial beehive, with lots of horns beeping.

Refrigerators are stacked four high, the rows of stove ranges, TVs and dishwashers go on for thousands of square feet.

"Everything that plugs in, we like to say,'' said warehouse manager Matt Gordon, surveying the scene.

In a retail era dominated by big-box stores, area independent appliance dealers credit the Boston Group - and its seemingly endless supply - as the reason why they're able to stay in business.

The group lets them buy more merchandise for better prices then they could individually. The warehouse holds the discounted merchandise for the independent stores and the stores in turn pass the savings on to their customers.

The group, founded in 1963 by Jerry Ellis, now the president of Building 19, is a cooperative of about 75 independent appliance stores throughout New England that have joined to leverage their buying power and warehouse space. Members say their combined market share attracts manufacturers' interest in a way they could never do alone, while helping them compete against big-box stores' prices and selection.

"Without the cooperative like this, a lot of independent dealers would not be able to be in business today,'' said Arthur P. Redding, the group's treasurer and owner of Hudson Appliance, which he opened in 1972. "You can have a storefront, but if you don't have the product and can't get it quickly enough to the customer, you're not going to be around for long, and that's what the co-op does for you.''

The 325,00-square-foot warehouse is a testament to the group's buying power. The number of electronic, kitchen and bathroom appliances stocked there is not a common sight.

"Obviously a small TV store could never afford to have an inventory of such expense,'' said Gordon, admiring a row of flat-screen TVs.

The group also provides advertising advice and training to members. Individual stores pay annual dues to be members. They said they attract new ones by word of mouth.

"It's become basically a family thing,'' Redding said. "We cover all of New England, we can count on each other, we can work with each other. If we need one another's help, we can make that phone call.''

But the key, said Richard Karp, president and treasurer of Central Appliance in Brockton, is factories are much more interested in selling to the 75-member group than each member individually.

"They can sell our group tons of merchandise with one shipping point, one billing point and we became very valuable to the manufacturer,'' he said. ``We became like the distributor for the small dealer.''

Karp, whose family opened Central Appliance in 1927, is one of the Boston Group's founding members and was a president for about 25 years, as the cooperative grew from eight stores to its current 75.

"It's been a baby for me that I'm very proud of,'' he said.

Aaron Wasserman can be reached at 508-634-7546 or awasserm@cnc.com.

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